Be Careful

If you are a new teacher doing Circling with Balls right now, be careful. You may not be going SLOW-Li enough. You probably aren’t. You know that you are going too fast if even one single kid in your class doesn’t understand. It is your job to make sure that they all understand. Tell them that.
Say that if they don’t understand, then it’s your fault, but that they have to do their 50% by showing you (fist slam move into flat hand or peace sign or however you do that). Again, please know that, if the comprehensible input that you are delivering to your students is confusing to them. it is because you are going too fast and you need to slow down.
It is not because the method doesn’t work and it is not because the kids don’t have the ability to understand you. It is because you are going too fast and you need to slow down or lose the class for the rest of the year, which might lead to you going back to the book, and we know that if you are reading this blog that that is the last thing you want to do.
Today I said to them, “My job is to guarantee your success first and teach you French second. I take my job very seriously, and I will be constantly walking around this room checking to see if you are involved with what I am saying. I can tell every time I look in your eyes if we are both working well together. You MUST let me know if I am going too fast. I will grade mainly according to what I see in your eyes in class.”

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn

2 thoughts on “Be Careful”

  1. I definitely agree. You really have to pay attention to your students and demand that as soon as you say something that they don’t understand, they tell you. At times, I just feel like I am repeating myself over and over like a broken record, but it’s what my students need. Sometimes, I get so excited and just want to plow through, but I have to constantly remember SLOW and then when I think I’m going slow enough, even SLOWER.
    We’ve been in school for 3 days and so far we have only discussed about 3-4 students, their likes and interests. I have not touched a textbook, done a pretest, given homework, and it feels so liberating. I can let the language flow and just know that my students are acquiring. Even though I’m new at this, I can’t ever see myself going back to the textbook.

  2. Right on Angela. Kudos for slowing down and repeating it more when it felt like you had said it enough. It took me a very long time – many years – to get that, and I’m still working on it. Right on!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Search

Get The Latest Updates

Subscribe to Our Mailing List

No spam, notifications only about new products, updates.

Related Posts

CI and the Research (cont.)

Admins don’t actually read the research. They don’t have time. If or when they do read it, they do not really grasp it. How could

Research Question

I got a question: “Hi Ben, I am preparing some documents that support CI teaching to show my administrators. I looked through the blog and

We Have the Research

A teacher contacted me awhile back. She had been attacked about using CI from a team leader. I told her to get some research from

The Research

We don’t need any more research. In academia that would be a frivolous comment, but as a classroom teacher in languages I support it. Yes,

$10

~PER MONTH

Subscribe to be a patron and get additional posts by Ben, along with live-streams, and monthly patron meetings!

Also each month, you will get a special coupon code to save 20% on any product once a month.

  • 20% coupon to anything in the store once a month
  • Access to monthly meetings with Ben
  • Access to exclusive Patreon posts by Ben
  • Access to livestreams by Ben